italian_guy

Welcome to KF.

I wanted to start this topic myself but I was not sure about the titles in english. The best I think is enter the dragon ( I think that is the one about the tourney in the island ) also good is the way of the dragon (the one filmed in Rome)

Have a look also to (martial) Tai chi chuan it has lots of meditativeand breathing exercises and a lot of cultural aspects (chinese medicine meridians etc.).

I do not belive that any MA can be learned from a book. In my opinion this is 100% true for karate but becomes 500% true for Tai chi.

Two things I did not understand. In the new school they make you spar after 2-4 weeks because of your curriculum or it is a common habit? The second thing is: it is full contact sparring what we are talking about? Because if it is a common habit and it is full contact I would be very suspicious about the safety level of the school.

Also in mine.

Yes it is mean.

An alternative suggestion may be Northern shaolin kung fu, it uses a lot the legs it is achrobatic and very nice to see. I think that Muay Thai is more effective but if you are looking for something where you may improuve your agility it may be an alternative choice.

I've read living the martial way by Forrest Morgan, although his view are a bit too extreme for my point of view it is still an excellent book.

Congratulations Kicks.

Welcome to KF.

Welcome!

Welcome to KF

Yes he teached both Cha cha cha and MA. Hi Gogogo wlecome to KF

I agree with Shane, it changes from place to place and depends on several situations like for example age.... I have two completely different situations in the schools where I go. In my TCC class the atmosphere is very friendly and I took very little to socialize, however in that school people have ages starting from 26 to say 55 and I'm 43 so no big problems here. In my karate class instead I'm the oldest by far, I think that few people reach 30 and there are guys around 15-16, except the instructors that are slightly younger then me (around 39). There I socialized only with the instructors and another women student because we prepared the yellow belt test togheter. All the other seems to mix quite well but for my age maybe they see me as a strange object, sometimes when we do execises in pairs I hardly find somebody that wants to do the execise with me but I do not care too much because the style is great and (at least) the instructors are friendly.

Yes I'm more flexible than when I started but I cannot reach the head of an average male (say 175 cm or 5ft 10in) yet. And then kicking the head is not always the best option. In self defence situation I would rather prefer round kick to the knees or front/side kick to the stomach or groin.

With kickboxing you learn basic skill faster and I think more efficiently but if you want a full featured martial art (with all its aspects) take karate. Also Radok suggestion may be good this is what I did anyway.

Hi TeaL, I think you did not show a good attitude in the entire discussion so a lot of people turn against you; so I will restart with the original question, telling you my experience. I started kickboxing in march 2003, at the end of april this year I realized that I wanted more then what kickboxing can offer, I wanted some more complete martial art system, so I joined go-ju ryu karate but with more then one year kickboxing experience. I started from white belt learning the basics from scratch, after only 1 and a half months I was admitted to the yellow belt exam and I was promoted with the same mark of another student who studied karate from about 5 months. This just to tell you that you should go back to the basic with great humility, if you have skill and you show that you are willing to learn your instructors will recognize it, I'm sure.

Back to the original question, I think that goju ryu is a very beautiful style, if you find a friendly and positive place to learn it I think you better stick with it. About self defence maybe there are more efficient way to learn it compared to a traditional matial art, but who cares, a traditional martial art is not only for self-defence it is for self-improvement (in health, fitness, self defence, caracter, spirit, focus etc.).

I'm not very flexible and I cannot reach the head but I can reach chest with front kick and ribs with round kicks so that's what I pick.

I do not go full force when I shadow box, but I try to go full speed. When I want to go full force I use the bag.

Congratulations, receiving compliments from such a master it is already an achievement. Keep us posted....

I cross trai Goju ryu karate and yang style tai chi chuan. I think it is very beneficial, and the two arts are different enaugh that you do not confuse them. I agree with delta1 about finding a good instructor and not rely on some second hand knoledge, because taichi has quite uncommon movements and if you are not followed by a good teacher you may even harm yourself. About the time you need to really understand Tai chi I agree it may be quite long I can't tell you how many years because it depends on the actual level you want to achive and the level of knoledge in this art is not easily measurable but I can tell you that it takes longer then an external art especially if you expect to use it for self-defence.

No I do not agree with that, if you train seriously there is not much space for telling jokes or talk too much one another. If sometimes a joke comes out it is not the end of the world but it should be really occasional. You are there to learn and concentrate not too chat about whatever comes to your mind. Outside the dojo you can go for a pizza with your sensei every night and relax but inside training and stay focused should be the rule

I agree with all previous post about which is the best strategy to choose a martial art, just go to the various schools watch, try and decide. If your question is: is still wothwhile studing karate my answer is yes; because is a great art and is a lot of fun with a lot of traditional, competition and self-defence aspects; maybe is not the best in any of this aspects but it has all of them.